Just to let you know about how I approached the side-balancing:
For the first frame, the reason it wound up like it did was (1) I thought the qualitative superiority of the Zeke over the Hurri I, P-40B, I-16, and Brewster would make a much larger difference and (2) the min/max from side assignments foretold a small numerical advantage for the Axis. As it turned out, the Axis basically had a minimum participation level turnout, and that made the sides more 50/50. On top of that, the Axis flew about 20 more Vals that frame than they had to, and that was 20 Zekes they didn't have. I hadn't planned on that.
Second frame, the numbers turned out very close to what I thought they would be after the adjustment. The Axis had about 40 more pilots than the Allies, at about 225 to 185. Considering the min numbers of Vals and B-25s that were used, that meant the Axis should have had about 150 fighters to the Allies 185. That, at the time, did not seem imbalanced to me at all. Allied CIC also did a good job of recognizing the high-payoff potential of the strat target, and had a larger force defending it than the other objectives. For the most part, the Axis attack forces were fairly balanced, so there was a numerical disadvantage for the Axis over Rangoon. To Nef's credit, he put together some hasty orders that allowed us to fly the frame. Knowing him, had he more time, I'm sure his plan would have anticipated that as well.
Third frame, the assignments were the same, but this time, the Axis used more Vals than required again, which cut into the number of available fighters for the Axis.
Both frame 1 and frame 3, we had first-time CICs, who did a good job on the organizational level of the orders, but perhaps could have used more effective tactics and task-organization. We've all been new CICs before, and the learning curve is always steep. I'm sure they've learned a few things that they may choose to do differently next time.
When I originally put this setup together, I thought about how I would approach the objectives if I had been the Axis CIC. The B-25's are suited for the strat targets at Rangoon, so my 12 formations would have been assigned the strat target each frame. Given there were 4 other objectives, I would have used ~15 Vals per target, and everything else would have been escorts. In my opinion, 150 Zekes should be competitive with 180 or so of the early allied aircraft. Perhaps it should have been a 1:1 ratio of Axis to Allied fighters. But, that would have made the numbers break out to 60% Japanese players to 40% Allied players and I would have never thought we would need such a disparity to make things equitable.
Anyway, for those that got pummeled each frame, sorry. For those that enjoyed it, good. Regardless, what is so apparent to the players after the results of a frame are posted is not so easily foreseen by those of us that put these events together. If your crystal ball is calibrated better than mine, Daddog might be able to use you in the future.
